Caledonia Woman Pairs Her Love of Horses With Her Dream Job

If you are heading to State Fair Park this summer, you might see Randi Derby there.

Derby, who lives in Caledonia, has been working with the Wisconsin State Fair Park Police since 2008. She had been asking if there were any openings on their mounted police unit for years. Until now, she was told no, according to a story on Racine Uncovered.

A 2005 graduate of , Derby realized she didn't just love horses, she also realized she wanted to help people.

“I haven’t always wanted to be a Police Officer, nor did I come from a family of Police Officers. It wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I determined I wanted to do something involving Law Enforcement."

Getting taking a criminal justice class through Youth Options while she was still in high school, and doing police rides with the Racine County Sheriff's Department and Racine Police Department affirmed Derby's decision to become a police officer. She also served as an intern at the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department.

Derby has worked at four prior State Fairs and has been working as a dispatcher for a Milwaukee County police department, but never on the mounted police unit. The key problem -- she didn't have a horse.

And then she found the answer to her problem.

“As a last option, I ended up asking the Lieutenant of the Mounted Unit if he had or knew of anyone who had a horse I may be able to use," Derby said. "The Lieutenant told me about an old friend of his who provides horses to departments specifically to use on Mounted Units. I quickly felt the butterflies come back into my stomach as now I had one last chance in fulfilling my dream. I gave the gentleman, Kenny, a call and ended up at his farm the following day."

Read more of the story, by clicking here.